


Transposition

by Vesper90



Series: Act 3 [4]
Category: Now You See Me (Movies)
Genre: Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, Daniel feels a bit stupid, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Past Character Death, Team as Family, as long as that people is just his boyfriend, but he's surprisingly good at comforting people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-07-06
Packaged: 2018-07-21 21:59:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7406680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vesper90/pseuds/Vesper90
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After 30 years in the revenge business, Dylan has finally slowed down enough to mourn his father's death and Daniel is there to help. </p><p>Transposition: The switching of locations of two items.</p><p>Author's Note: This is pretty much all I have for this series. I can't see it continuing past this point. But if you have some ideas or prompts for Daniel/Dylan please comment and let me know...I might be able to oblige if your idea inspires me!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Transposition

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [[授权翻译]Transposition/换位](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9140188) by [9024Scarlett](https://archiveofourown.org/users/9024Scarlett/pseuds/9024Scarlett)



> Dylan is kind of like Inigo Montoya, you know "I have been in the revenge business so long, now that it's over, I don't know what to do with the rest of my life."

Daniel woke up alone with a crick in his neck from falling asleep in a chair in the library. The book he had been reading was open and resting on his chest. The sun was shining outside and he could hear the voices of the other horsemen in the kitchen across the hall. Dylan had tossed and turned all night and when Daniel tried to ask Dylan what was wrong and had only gotten a terse “nothing” as a reply before Dylan turned over on his side, facing away from Daniel. After a few more tense moments Daniel had tried to talk to him again and had gotten a harsh “don’t you ever shut up?” from him and Daniel had simply gotten out of bed and left the room. 

Which was, of course, how he found himself trying to rub the muscle cramps out of his neck, cursing whatever had put Dylan in such a bad mood and made him so impossible the night before. Daniel got out of the chair and shuffled out of the library and crossed the hall to join the others, wondering if Dylan would be more friendly this morning. 

“Good morning…wow, you look like shit Atlas.” 

“Oh yes, thanks for that Merritt.” Daniel responded sarcastically. “Great pep talk.”

“I didn’t know I was supposed to give pep talks now. Did you hear that Lula?”

“Nope, I don’t think that’s in your job description. Definitely wasn’t in mine and Merritt is right…you look like shit.” 

Daniel figured she must have been telling the truth, because she got up from the stool she was sitting on and poured him a cup of coffee.

“Thanks” Daniel said, indicating the coffee she’d slid over to him to make sure she didn’t think he was thanking her for her commentary on how he looked. “I didn’t sleep much last night.”

“Normally I’d think that was a good thing, but considering the mood our fair leader was in this morning I’m thinking not…?” Merritt asked. 

“Yeah, he yelled at Jack…he never yells at Jack.” Lula said. 

“He yelled at Jack? What happened?” Daniel was shocked. Of the four other horsemen the one that Dylan had always behaved the most protectively toward was Jack. Daniel wasn’t sure if it was because Jack was the youngest of the group and Dylan felt responsible for him or if the death that they’d faked for Jack nearly 2 years ago now had left a mark on Dylan, even though he’d known the entire thing was a setup even when it happened. Whatever the reason way, Dylan rarely ever said a harsh word to Jack.

“That’s just it, nothing happened. Dylan was in the kitchen when Jack and I came in.” Merritt said, meaning that Jack had been up early working on his cardistry with Merritt again. “Jack just asked if there was any info on when our next show was going to be and Dylan just blew up at it, then stormed down to the basement.” 

“I went down later to give him a piece of my mind, but I guess he took the underground over to Eye HQ, because he’s not here.” Lula said.

“Where’s Jack?” Daniel asked.

“Up in our room…do you think you could talk to him? He looked pretty upset, but he told me he was fine…and I didn’t want to push.” Lula seemed unsure of herself, not a regular occurrence, but as close as she was to Jack she knew that she really didn’t fully understand the original group’s dynamics or relationships well enough to talk to Jack about what happened.

“Sure, sure…I’ll go now.” Daniel picked up his coffee cup and exited the room, still rubbing at his sore neck as he went. Daniel wasn’t sure what he’d say to Jack. He knew that Jack looked up to Dylan even more than he’d idolized Daniel when they’d first met and that wasn’t just a byproduct of respecting Dylan’s skill as a magician either. Jack had, from what little Daniel had figured out, had an even shittier childhood than Daniel had. Which was why he’d been making a living picking pockets on the street before he got the nod from The Eye. Dylan had privately speculated to Daniel that he thought Jack saw him almost paternally…which seemed to be a role Dylan had no problem filling. So Dylan losing his temper with Jack was bound to be jarring for him. 

Daniel sighed as he climbed the stairs. After this he was going to have to go have a talk with Dylan and try to figure out what his problem was and maybe forcibly remove the stick that had been shoved up his ass for the last 12 hours. 

He knocked on Jack’s door and heard a muffled “who is it” from inside. Instead of answering he just opened the door and stepped inside. Jack was lying on his back on the bed, flipping cards at the ceiling.

“Lula sent you up I guess?”

“Well, you know…she worries.”

“Well you can go back down and tell her I’m fine. Really.”

“Really?” Disbelief colored every inch of that word as it came out of Daniel’s mouth.

“Seriously, I mean it shook me up a little, but I should have known he would be in a bad mood today. I get it, I’m not angry or holding a grudge. I mean…today of all days Dylan gets a pass.” Jack threw the final card at the wall and sat up. 

“Today of all days? What? Is it the jackass national holiday or something?” Daniel and his neck were still pissed off about the early morning confrontation they’d had.

“No, man…come on. Don’t you know what today is?”

“No” Daniel responded. To be honest he hadn’t been keeping up with the dates much the last few months. He knew it wasn’t anyone’s birthday, since his phone was set to remind him of those so he could avoid being labelled a complete asshole by the other horsemen, but other than that the days were all the same. 

“Danny, it’s the anniversary of his father’s death.” Jack’s statement felt like a kick straight to the teeth and Danny immediately felt like crap. 

“Shit…I’ve gotta…are you really okay then?”

“Yeah, tell Lula it’s safe to come upstairs.”

“Yeah, okay…I’ve just…I’ve gotta go.” Daniel waved a hand in the air, indicating the general direction of ‘not here’ that he needed to be.

Daniel took the stairs down two at a time and rushed back into the kitchen.

“That was fast” Lula commented as Daniel rushed past her. “Hey, where are you going?”

Daniel put on the brakes and stopped to face her. “Jack is fine, he says it’s safe to go upstairs now. I’m just…I’ve gotta go talk to Dylan about…a thing. A very important thing. We’ll be back later.” Lula looked like she wanted to question him further, but he was gone before she could get another question out.

Daniel took the underground tunnels as quickly as he could. The entire time he was berating himself for being so unobservant. Every time he’d needed anything from Dylan he’d gotten it. If he needed reassurance, someone to talk to about his mother or his life growing up, or just a physical connection…Dylan gave it all happily and usually without Daniel ever having to ask, because that was just how good Dylan was at reading him. But the one time Dylan was needing something from Daniel, he’d completely failed to read the situation and stormed off in a snit instead. He didn’t have an excuse, it wasn’t like he didn’t know the date of Lionel Shrike’s death. The man was one of the magicians that had inspired him when he’d read about him in the books about magic that his mother used to buy for him. 

Daniel unlocked the heavy metal service door at the end of the tunnel and entered what looked like a storage closet. He pressed his hand to the biometric lock at the back of the room and another door opened, letting him into the lower levels of the Eye headquarters. One iris scan later and he was making his way past the rehearsal and illusion fabrication rooms and then finally up the winding black and white staircase that led up to the office that had once been Thaddeus Bradley’s and was now Dylan’s. He let himself in quietly, closing the door before moving the curtain aside to enter the room. 

The lights were off in the study and the curtains were drawn, meaning that even at that hour of morning the room was cast in deep shadows. For a moment Daniel wondered if Dylan was even there, when he stepped further into the room he could hear the sound of Dylan’s breathing and followed it to the wingback chair that was seated in front of the fireplace that was currently cold. When he got closer to the chair he could see the bottle of scotch sitting on the table next to it and the half empty glass that was clutched in one of Dylan’s hands. In the other he was a photo of Dylan and his father, along with a woman who must have been his mother. 

Daniel walked around the front of the chair and knelt down in front of Dylan, putting on hand on his knee and taking the glass of alcohol away from the lax fingers that were barely holding it in the first place. Daniel wasn’t sure how much of that bottle had been consumed in this sitting, but it was probably too much. Dylan had yet to respond to Daniel’s presence, eyes still fixed on the photo and now that Dylan was close enough he could make out the tear tracks on Dylan’s face. 

Daniel took the now empty hand and rubbed it between his own hands, restoring some warmth to it and trying to get Dylan’s attention. Slowly Dylan looked up from the picture and looked at Daniel, seeming to just now notice his presence. 

“Hey” Daniel said, still holding Dylan’s hand in his own and shuffling closer so that he was leaning into Dylan’s legs. 

“…hey” Dylan quietly responded.

“So…I’m an ass” Daniel said. Dylan looked like he was about to protest and Daniel cut him off, putting a finger to Dylan’s lips to keep him silent. “No, I am. I should have realized what today was and been there for you. We’d probably both be in a much happier place right now if I had and I know for a fact that my neck wouldn’t be this sore…remind me in the future that I’m getting to old to fall asleep sitting up.” A ghost of a smile flitting across Dylan’s lips before vanishing. “Anyway, I’m sorry…I should have realized…” Daniel trailed off, not wanting to give a name to the issue just yet. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Dylan shook his head slightly and Daniel allowed it. No good would come of pushing him to talk. Daniel stood up and a flash of panic crossed Dylan’s face and he reached out for Daniel’s hand.

“Hey, no, I’m not going anywhere. Let’s just move somewhere we can both sit down okay?”

“Okay” Dylan responded, shocked at how rough his voice sounded from tears and lack of use. Daniel drag him up and pulled him over to the long fainting couch that was on the far side of the room, then pulled Dylan down with him as he lay down on it. He pulled Dylan against him, chest to chest and pressed tightly together to keep from falling off the couch that was definitely not designed for two grown men to sleep on. Dylan tucked his head under Daniel’s chin and wrapped his arms around his waist. 

Silence reigned in the room for several minutes, until it finally became unbearable and Dylan had to break it. 

“It’s stupid.” he finally said.

“What?”

“It’s stupid, I’m being stupid…it’s been over 30 years. I got revenge and somehow I’m still dragging this around.”

“Oh please, don’t be ridiculous Dylan. One year, thirty years, whatever…the pain doesn’t just go away and you never really had a chance to mourn anyway. You spent 30 years planning the perfect revenge. I doubt you ever took the time to really feel anything about your dad’s death in the first place. It’s completely natural that you’d be upset now.”

“That’s…surprisingly deep Atlas.” Dylan responded, sounding sarcastic but the tone lost its heat since he was snuggling in closer to Daniel’s chest.

“We were in hiding for a year, Dylan. I had to choose between Dr. Phil, Judge Judy, and As The World Turns.” 

Dylan laughed, but it was a watery sound and Daniel could feel the warmth of tears soaking into his shirt quietly. Daniel gathered him in closer and just held him and let him cry. Daniel wasn’t used to being to one to give comfort or emotional support and he wasn’t at all sure what to say or do, but as awkward as this was for him…he surprisingly didn’t mind doing it. Not for Dylan anyway. He wasn’t sure he could handle it if Merritt suddenly needed to sob into his shirt.

“I’m sorry” Dylan said, tears still flowing at a steady rate. “I can’t imagine this was how you planned to spend your day. I just can’t seem to…stop.” 

He stroked Dylan’s back slightly and responded. 

“It’s been nearly 20 years since my mom died and I still get a little…weepy and unpleasant on the anniversary. I’ve never had anyone I cared enough for or trusted enough to share that, but I would let you be there for me. I don’t mind being here for you because of this. You’re finally letting it go, next year it won’t be as hard. You bottled this all up for 30 years, it was going to come out sooner or later. And as for how I planned to spend my day, I guess you’re partly right…see there’s this hot ex-FBI agent that I’ve been seeing and I was planning to spend the day in bed with him. So yeah, not quite what I was planning…but I’ve got you horizontal so that’s half my plan right there.”

Daniel smiled when he heard Dylan laugh at this comment and then he leaned in to place a kiss on top of Dylan’s head, feeling Dylan’s arms tighten around his waist as his did it. 

“You know…” Daniel mused. “This kind of reminds me of our first time.”

“What, ugly sobbing and emotional baggage? I think we’re remembering our first time differently.”

“I wasn’t talking about that, but there was a bit of emotional baggage then too. I meant after, trying to sleep on that ridiculous couch.” Dylan laughed, the gust of warm breath hitting Daniel’s neck caused him to shiver slightly.

“Planning to elbow me off the couch the time too?”

“That was an accident, but if you keep bringing it the next time won’t be.” Daniel responded, happy to hear some of the humor returning to Dylan’s voice. They were silent for a few more moments and then Daniel spoke up again. “Tell me about your dad, what was he like?”

Dylan stiffened in his arms, but after a few moments he relaxed. His head tipped back away from Daniel’s chest and they spent a few moments rearranging limbs so that Dylan could look at Daniel eye to eye. There was a brief smile on his face as he started to talk.

“He was always planning something insane or doing something reckless…he drove my mother nuts. There was this one time that he decided that it would be far more educational for me to take a trip with him rather than going to school, so while my mother was taking care of her sick aunt he took me out of school and ran off with me to Macau…Mom didn’t find out until we got back. The school called about me missing two weeks of classes and mom just about killed my dad herself. Then there was the time that he…”

Daniel held him closer and let the stories flow over him, hoping it would help Dylan heal.


End file.
